Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has sought a proposal from Karnataka for declaring the Kudremukh National Park a tiger reserve.
In a letter to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Ramesh said such a move would strengthen tiger landscapes and, thereby, forestry conservation.
The area is biologically significant for notification as a tiger reserve since it is located amidst other good tiger areas in the Malanad-Mysore tiger landscape. As ascertained in the last all-India tiger estimation using the refined methodology, the Kudremukh-Bhadra landscape has one of the three distinct tiger populations existing in Karnataka, and it extends up to the Bhimasankar area of Maharashtra.
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Independent surveys conducted by the Bangalore-based Centre for Wildlife Studies have also found that the area could potentially support a viable population of tigers.
Mr. Ramesh said the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), which was operating in the area, has been closed by an order of the Supreme Court in 2002.